Machinery such as industrial packing equipment, pharmaceutical packaging systems, modern mail processing equipment, wood and plastic processing equipment, fiberglass processing equipment, boat building equipment, and other types of machinery can generate and be affected by airborne particulates or particles. Such airborne particles may be present inside or outside of the machinery, and/or on associated conveyor and transport systems. As products or packages travel through these systems, particles are generated that can prevent the equipment from remaining in good working order, and may also be potentially hazardous to operators. In particular, certain elements within the machinery, such as imaging systems, bar code readers and optical character recognition systems, are adversely affected by the accumulation of particles. This problem is compounded when large volumes of material are processed by such equipment, causing rapid accumulation of particles. Further, the presence of hazardous particles in the ambient environment presents a serious health and safety concern, especially given the potential for hazardous particles being introduced by sabotage or terrorist activity.
Many existing methods for removing accumulated dust and particles require the machinery to be shut down for a considerable length of time so that the accumulated particles can be accessed for removal. In some systems, the particles are removed by a blow out and/or vacuuming procedure that can be required as frequently as every two hours on a production run of sixteen to eighteen hours per day, depending upon the application. Unfortunately, in many cases, the recommended preventive maintenance may be delayed because of the frequency and extensive down time required. Such down time is extremely undesirable for many reasons, including the labor costs incurred in breaking down and cleaning the equipment and slowing or stopping of production schedules.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,586 to Wojtowicz et al. describes a cleaning system for conveyor belts used in automated mail processing equipment. The cleaning system of Wojtowicz incorporates a brush cleaning system that is activated when a measured conveyor static coefficient of friction (SCOF) is below a desired level. This system is limiting in that it does not provide continuous cleaning, nor can it provide for the removal of hazardous or infectious material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,813 to Thomas et al. introduces a combination air jet and vacuum system for cleaning automated mail-processing equipment. The system of Thomas is limiting in that it is only effective for dust particles and cannot process larger types of waste or potentially hazardous or infectious materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,127 to Minakawa et al. describes a cyclone dust collector system for finer particles within a clean room or glove box environment. Filters that are internal to the cyclone are provided to further filter the particles from the airflow, and are capable of being backwashed. Minakawa is limiting in that it does not provide for the removal of hazardous or infectious material.
It would therefore be very desirable to provide a particle removal system for various types of industrial equipment that could reduce or eliminate the down time required to remove accumulated particles from the equipment, and provide a means for removal and decontamination of hazardous airborne particles so as to provide for operator safety and well-being. The system should also be efficient and economical, capable of operating continuously to remove airborne particles, and be easily integrated with current types of industrial equipment.